http://www.netizen.com/netizen/96/29/campaign_dispatch0a.html
HotWired
The Netizen
"Crypto Storm Warning"
Campaign Dispatch
by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
Washington, DC, 14 July
The Clinton administration escalated its cyber-fearstorm today when
a top Justice Department lawyer slammed the Net for "transmitting
child pornography into our homes" and for allowing hackers to possibly
"shut down the banking system."
Jamie Gorelick, the US deputy attorney general, also expanded the
administration's plan to ban the domestic use of strong encryption,
like Pretty Good Privacy, that the spooks can't crack.
"There is a need for access to [encrypted communications] pursuant to
court orders for access to keys," Gorelick said at a conference
sponsored by the Freedom Forum.
"One of our most formidable challenges is to deal with the issue of
encryption. What happens when an employee of a company runs off with
information and it is encrypted? What happens when someone dies and
his files [are encrypted]? What happens when you lose your key?"
Gorelick asked.
This goes beyond Attorney General Janet Reno's recent calls for
domestic key escrow and further than the "Clipper III" white paper the
Clinton administration released in May, which was intended to create a
new government-run identity-checking system allowing the Feds access
to the secret keys of US users.
At the same time, Gorelick edged away from the hard-line rhetoric the
administration used to defend the Communications Decency Act.
"We did advise Congress on the passage of that act that some
constitutional questions would be raised," she said. However, she
added that there are "many possible grounds" on which the Justice
Department could argue this censorship boondoggle is a valid law -
despite the recent three-judge panel decision in Philadelphia finding
the act unconstitutional.
Gorelick's rank as a senior administration official shows that the
White House is trotting out its heavy-hitters to slam non-escrowed
cryptography just as Congress is holding hearings on the recent
Pro-CODE legislation that would effectively lift export controls.
"We've been used to lower-level functionary types addressing these
issues - White House staff people and representatives from NIST," said
David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "That
Gorelick, as the number two person in the Justice Department, has
increasingly started to talk about these issues indicates that the
priority of cyberspace and cyber-rights issues has increased within
the administration."
Gorelick's cybercondemnations play against a backdrop of political
jockeying inside the Justice Department. Reno disclosed last November
that she has Parkinson's disease, and Gorelick is her logical
successor if Clinton stays in office next term.
Gorelick also replaced FBI director Louis Freeh as the
administration's chief crypto-critic and front person on the Hill. (In
April 1995 Freeh testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that
"terrorists communicating over the Internet" represent a problem that
must be "dealt with immediately.")
But in the wake of the FBI-file flap, Freeh would be laughed off the
Hill if he tries to tell Congress: "Trust us - we'll collect your keys
but won't read your mail."
After Gorelick completed her speech and sat down, I leaned over and
asked her: "Could I have your email address?"
She didn't know it. "I don't go into it that often," Gorelick said,
adding that the Justice Department doesn't use email much, for
"security reasons." "Call me and I'll give it to you," she promised.
Gosh, what a surprise: The US government's leading spokesperson on the
dangers and the evils of the Net doesn't even log in.
Copyright 1996 HotWired, Inc. All rights reserved.